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As a kid, Allison Schmitt's sport was soccer. She even had a Mia Hamm Barbie doll. If she imagined back then that she would find herself at the Olympics someday, it would have been as a teammate of Hope Solo and Alex Morgan. Instead, she is poised for a breakout Olympics in swimming. "I had the decision made for me when I got cut from the team at 12," she says of her stunted soccer career. "Swimming was a no-cut sport." Schmitt, 22, is perhaps best known these days to casual followers of swimming asMichael Phelps' training partner, first in her native Michigan and then at North Baltimore Aquatic Club, and the person the previously burned-out swimmer credits...

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As a kid, Allison Schmitt's sport was soccer. She even had a Mia Hamm Barbie doll. If she imagined back then that she would find herself at the Olympics someday, it would have been as a teammate of Hope Solo and Alex Morgan.
Instead, she is poised for...

Michael Phelps barely slipped into Saturday night's final for the 400-meter individual medley, coming in eighth in the morning preliminary heats that launched the first full day of Olympic competition -- and his own fourth and final Games.
"The only...

Who was that swimmer in the far lane, finishing fourth and failing to medal?
A sluggish-looking Michael Phelps launched his final Olympics Saturday night in uncharacteristic fashion, leaving the pool without a stop at the medal platform after a...